Crystal Chambers
by TheologyDiscography
Summary: Harry's captured by the Death Eaters and imprisoned in a room of solid crystal. The Order's only spy has been discovered. Is there any hope that he'll be rescued, and how will his experience effect him?


Yeah..... This one, i got the mental image stuck in my head, and it wouldn't leave me alone until i rescued him. so you get this, courtesy of my persistent muse. eat up.

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His head hung, shoulders straining against the binding that held his arms above his head as he slumped exhaustedly towards the cold crystal floor. Standing in the doorway, Draco felt nothing but pity for the young man who was assumed to be dead almost a year ago. Noticing his son's distraction, Lucius turned and peered into the door as well, a vicious smirk on his face.

"Ah, the young savior. Not looking so heroic now, is he Draco?" he asked genially, as though commenting on a painting. "He's such an entertaining toy. The Dark Lord doesn't care what we do with him, so long as he isn't damaged." And he sent his son a lusty wink. "Perhaps if we have time after our mission is accomplished, you can have a chance to play with him." Schooling his face under his father's watchful eyes, Draco said nothing. "But first we must complete our mission to our Master's satisfaction."

"Why has he not been killed?" Draco asked as they moved along. Lucius shrugged gracefully.

"Who can tell what is on the Dark Lord's mind? When he was captured, several of our fellows begged our Lord to allow them to play with him, and though he punished them for their impudence of asking for him in the first place, the idea apparently amused him enough that he declared that we could have him as long as he was not damaged when he called for the boy."

"How do you keep him so docile? The Potter I knew would have been yelling and trying to escape, even when it was hopeless." Lucius chuckled cruelly.

"I shall explain it to you when we return, my son."

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"Potter's alive!" Draco exclaimed as he burst into the room. Everyone already inside froze.

"What are you talking about, Draco? Potter's been dead for almost a year," Snape said finally, breaking the silence. Draco shook his head.

"He was captured just after you were discovered, remember?" Severus leveled a glare at him for reminding him of his supposed failure by getting exposed and therefore not being there to rescue the Chosen One, never mind that he had only survived because of his precaution of always carrying an emergency portkey to the infirmary. "So you wouldn't have heard of him, and I wasn't considered high enough to know. I only found out because on our way to a mission, father and I passed the room they're keeping him in." His thoughts went back to that beautiful, light blue crystal room, and the thin boy constrained in the very center of the globular room, hands sunk into pillars of the same blue crystal. He shoved all thoughts of what he had been forced to do to keep his father's suspicion off of him away, focusing on the first time he had seen the dark-haired boy in over a year. "Do you have a pensieve handy?" he asked softly. One of the Weasleys nodded and scurried off. Draco turned to Severus, as he was the only one he'd trust to extract the proper memory at the moment. He didn't even trust himself to do it right. All his focus was taken up by keeping only the one memory in his mind. There were several people here who would severely injure him should they even guess the second memory existed, much less saw it. The one he was showing them was damming enough, but it was all he had to prove he had really seen Potter. Severus raised a brow, but obligingly made a copy of the memory for the others to view when the pensieve was brought back.

"…_As long as he was not damaged when he called for the boy." _The memory ended there, the pensieve projector going blank. Several people were pale.

"Well, I bet he's not into bondage anymore when he gets back," one of the twins said, mostly to break the tension that the memory had caused. His twin, Draco, Blaise, Ginny, and about half of the DA broke out in sniggers.

"I highly doubt he was in the first place!" Ron snapped angrily, seeing such an idea as mocking his best mate. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that. I've heard stories about that one. Apparently it's anything and everything voluntary for him. Or it was. I wouldn't be the least surprised that his current experience inhibits him." He sighed softly. "Shame."

"Stories?" Neville questioned impishly. "You're saying you didn't make a go for him yourself?" Draco sighed again, more heavily this time.

"He wouldn't have trusted me not to slit his throat in bed, and I knew it, so I never tried," he said with a shrug. "I'm fairly sure he thought I was spying for his ugliness." Severus snorted at the description of the dark lord.

"Same for me, and he still went for it," Blaise laughed. Several people looked at him with wide eyes. "What? We both had fun, and that's all there was to it. You should have tried, Draco. You never know. Or was there another reason you didn't want to?" He raised an eyebrow. 'Were you afraid you'd fall for him without him doing the same? From what I've heard, that's a pretty valid fear,' he said through the slight mental connection the brotherhood bond they'd started as children had given them. Draco blushed slightly, so faint that only someone who knew him as well as Blaise did would notice. He smirked, vindicated, and turned his attention away from his best friend. Draco sighed again.

'No, I'm afraid I've already fallen for him,' he admitted in a rare moment of honesty. 'And I know he wouldn't fall for me. I just didn't want to torture myself with his nearness, and knowing he'd never really be mine.' Blaise sent him a sympathetic look, causing others to give them both confused looks, as nobody else could hear their words. 'It was torture, Blaise, and I'm not sure who it tortured more, me or him.'

'What?' Blaise asked in confusion. Draco shook his head.

'Not here. I know you won't be able to keep from reacting, and I DON'T want _them_ to know.' Blaise nodded slowly, looking contemplative. By this time, everyone else had realized they were having a conversation they weren't privy to, and were watching the two with various expressions, depending on how they felt about the two having a bond between them that would allow them to speak silently.

"Do you want to take that elsewhere so we can get back to business without you disrupting us?" Ron asked sharply. Their conversations always unnerved him, especially considering how young they were when they had formed the bond, and the fact that the bonding, while not exactly forbidden, was strongly frowned upon. Exchanging a glance, both stood.

"I do think we will, Weasel. I've given you everything important, and you never listen to my suggestions anyway." And he really needed to tell Blaise, to have someone else share the awful knowledge with him, and reassure him that he wasn't the monster he felt like.

"And I don't really have anything to contribute to this. I'm only here because Draco is anyway." Blaise grinned mockingly at them as they slipped from the door. The twins exchanged a look and followed them without a word.

"What do you want?" Draco growled when it became obvious they were following them.

"You're going to tell Blaise something the others couldn't handle."

"We want to know what it is."

"And why should I tell you?" Draco snapped. They shrugged in unison.

"Why shouldn't you?" Fred asked reasonably. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"We know sometimes things have to be done, whether you want to or not."

"And the higher the stakes, the worse what must be done will be."

"We can handle whatever it is, and if it's really something that bad, you'll need our support when it comes out." They had reached a small drawing room by this time, and Draco slammed the door angrily, warding it against anyone listening to their conversation, then spun back to face them.

"You think you can handle hearing that I was forced to rape your adopted little brother to maintain my cover and my father's favor?" he snarled, tears streaming down his face.

Fred and George winced but remained where they were, calmly waiting for an explanation. Blaise stepped forwards and wrapped his arms around Draco, holding him as he cried. "You want to hear about how when father brought me back there, the floor underneath him was already slick with his own blood from the sick fuckers that father threw out, who I've been avoiding for the last six months so they couldn't rape me, and then I find out he's been at their non-existent mercy for almost a year with no way to escape? About how father bragged to me that they kept him docile by refusing to feed him so the only sustenance he had was their come, and how he'd learned to give them great blowjobs so they would come in his mouth and not his ass, because it was the only way he could keep from starving?"

All three listeners were pale, but they kept silent, knowing he needed to tell them far more than they needed his silence. "You want to know about how he looked up at me with pleading eyes, and I couldn't even reassure him because father would have noticed, and how what little life there was in his eyes seemed to drain out when I had to force him? _You think you need to hear that_?" George stepped forward to lay a hand on his shoulder.

"No-" Draco interrupted him.

"_I hated it!" _he yelled. "_I hated that I had to do that, but father was watching me, just waiting for a hesitation he could push." _He broke down in tears again.

"Draco, we didn't need to hear that for ourselves. But you needed to say it."

"And more important to us, Harry needed to hear it from your point of view." Draco froze.

"What?"

"We did a spell, connecting us," George explained. "Harry can hear anything I can. But we only got the one way set up, then we were all called out, and then Harry was captured…."

"And we never had a chance to set it up the other way around, so we didn't know he was still alive because we don't receive anything from his end."

"And the spell doesn't have any tell-tales, doesn't show up on any scans, and isn't ended by any form of finite, so they wouldn't have removed it." Blaise's arms tightened slightly around Draco to get his attention.

"And you were just as much raped as he was, otherwise you wouldn't be so upset. It wasn't your fault. It's because of you that we know he's alive, and we'll be able to get him out." Draco nearly collapsed with relief at his brother's reassurance, especially when both twins nodded solemnly in agreement.

"We won't be able to tell you when though," Fred said a moment later.

"You can't know, or you could blow it." Draco nodded his acceptance, but it was obvious he wasn't happy with that decision, no matter how well thought out it was. His success as a spy depended on being able to hide his emotions, not feign them, and he had never been very good at hiding that he was waiting for something.

"You'll let me see him as soon as possible after?" he asked instead. "I still need to apologize in person."

"Of course." Moving in unison, the twins leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheeks, then went back to the meeting.

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It happened almost two weeks later. The length of time was the only thing Draco had pushed for, knowing that if Potter was rescued right after he'd seen the other boy, he was done for. The twins had understood that, and knew that with Severus gone, he was the only spy they had that they could trust.

He was waiting on the dark lord when the report came in. His father had just been sent to 'go have some fun,' about twenty minutes ago when Theodore Nott burst into the room.

"There's an attack on Crystal!" he shouted, and Draco's heart jumped. Crystal was where Potter was being held, called that for the room he was in, among others. It was probably their strongest establishment, if you went by the ambient magic, but most of the people there were there to play with Potter, not for any serious reason, and wouldn't react well to an attack. "They're sweeping through the building, nobody there is putting up much resistance! They'll reach Potter soon, my lord!" Voldemort calmly crucioed him, then sent everyone except Draco to join the fight.

"What do you require of me, my lord?" Draco asked with the mixture of humility and arrogance in his voice that had always seemed to amuse the Dark Lord before. Voldemort chuckled and gestured him closer.

"So eager to serve, young Malfoy." He reached out and placed a hand on Draco's cheek. "I've long admired you. So like your father, yet even more beautiful. I'll have you soon enough. For now, we must make an appearance!"

"As you will it, my lord," Draco said steadily, hiding the rolling in his gut at the information that the dark lord wanted him. 'Just my luck,' he thought ironically.

By the time they got to Crystal, however, the Order was retreating. 'I hope they got him out, because this is going to up security here big time.' He looked around mock-fearfully. The only reason he hadn't been sent out on attacks against the order was that although he was a brilliant strategist, he had always shown fear at the idea of actually going out against them. Several of the older members looked down on him for his display of emotion, but if it kept him from having to go against the order, he was willing to endure it, to a point. And beyond that point, he exacted subtle, untraceable revenge.

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Severus met him at the door of headquarters. The place was buzzing with activity. "What's going on, Sev?"

"Something is wrong with Potter. He's not reacting."

"As in he's unresponsive?"

"As in he's still on his knees, with his arms hanging in the air." Draco froze in the doorway to Harry's room, staring at the older man.

"No, Severus, no. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me they didn't do that." Everyone inside the room turned to look at them. "Please tell me they wouldn't do that."

"You know as well as I that they would. Look at him Draco." Draco squeezed his eyes shut, then snapped them open, turning to look at the supposed savior. His hands were on the wall, and he was kneeling on the bed they had placed him on while he was still unconscious, head bowed. He looked completely helpless, and thoroughly despairing. "It's obvious, childe."

"What's obvious?" Hermione asked sharply. Draco sighed.

"Why me?"

"You're the only one who was there, and you know it," Severus stated calmly, ignoring his godson's protest. He reached out to grab Draco's shoulders, pulling him close. "Do you think I would ask this of you otherwise?" Draco's eyes fell closed, but he straightened.

"Ask _what_?" Hermione snapped impatiently. Finally, Draco turned and met her eyes.

"I can snap him out of this."

"How?!" she asked instantly. He looked away.

"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies," he sing-songed, his standard reply for 'there's no way in hell I'm telling you'. She glared at him.

"You expect me to let you do anything with Harry, you will damn well tell me what you think you're going to do."

"You want to keep Harry from starving himself to death, you will allow me to do whatever it takes to break his mind out of the lock that the spell put it under, which he probably enhanced to keep from going crazy at the incongruity of his treatment."

"What do you mean, incongruity?" Fred asked interestedly. Draco sighed and closed his eyes again.

"Don't tell me you didn't see it. The reason the dark lord gave Potter to his followers as a sex-toy was because he was so open about sex. He wanted to ruin sex for him, because he'd enjoyed it so much. Once he was broken, then he was going to kill him. But he's not broken, because a portion of his mind hid away instead of fighting the spell. I believe that's the portion of his mind that interprets everything that doesn't have to do with being imprisoned, and the portion of his mind that hears George's spell." Fred's eyes closed for a moment in understanding, then he stepped forwards and pulled a resisting Hermione out of the room.

Draco stepped forwards and canceled the barrier around Harry by simply shoving his hand through it. He didn't have time for subtlety here, he had to get Harry away to where he could work uninterrupted before someone got the bright idea to check on them. He stunned Harry before he even noticed the change, and scooped him up in his arms.

His eye sought Severus'. "It's the only way I'll be able to bring him out, isn't it?" he asked, hoping that his mentor would have another way, though he knew he wouldn't. Severus nodded curtly.

"Your room would probably be best. You can keep them away indefinitely." Draco nodded his understanding, and disappeared.

Draco laid Harry gently on the floor by his bed and stripped his clothes off before enervating him. Instantly, he was back on his knees, in the same waiting posture as he had been in the first time he had seen him in Crystal. He walked around to stand in front of Potter, whose eyes fixed on him. Even though he knew the part of his mind that was aware of what was going on was locked up by the spell, it still hurt him to see the deadness in the emerald eyes.

"How are you today, Potter?" he asked tauntingly, mentally wincing. Potter winced physically, looking down at the floor. "Hungry? Your knees hurt?"

"Yes," Potter whispered, curling in on himself as far as he would be able were he still restrained as he though he was.

"How about obedient? Are you feeling obedient today?" Potter didn't reply, not knowing what he meant by that. "I believe we shall test that. I'm going to release you, Potter, and you are going to do exactly as I tell you to." He ran his wand up Potter's arm, murmuring nonsense to himself, to make Potter believe he was being freed. When his wand reached the tip of his middle finger, Potter's arm dropped to rest beside him. Draco grinned in triumph, repeating the process on the other hand. Potter's hands folded in his lap, awaiting Draco's instructions.

Draco smiled hungrily. Were it not for the troublesome fact that he was for all intents and purposes doing this without Potter's consent, this would be a scene out of his fantasies. He had always liked playing power games. "Stand up." Slowly he stood, on legs that had become unused to supporting his weight. "Lie on your back on the bed." Potter moved unsteadily towards it, not even questioning how a bed had come to be in his torture chamber.

Draco knelt above him, licking and sucking on flesh made pale by his long imprisonment, worshiping the body he had long desired patiently until Harry responded, long past the time when he was painfully hard. Slowly, he shifted upward to breathe huskily into his ear.

"Potter. You're free. You're not confined any longer. Do you believe me?"

"Yes," Harry panted as Draco nibbled on his earlobe playfully. "I can feel it. The binding is gone from my hands." Draco bit down lightly on his neck, sucking until Potter gasped.

"You're not a prisoner any more. You've been rescued. Do you believe me?"

"Rescued? I'm rescued?" Potter panted, echoing him without it connecting. One of Draco's hands slid casually down Harry's body, to wrap around his cock. Harry breathed in sharply, arching his back unconsciously.

"Yes, you're rescued. The Order finally found you. Do you believe me?" he asked again. Harry shook his head, then tossed it back in pleasure as Draco continued his teasing strokes.

"Nobody can find me," he whispered finally. "They would have come for me by now."

"They have come for you. You're free now, because they found you. Do you want to know how?" He slid down to bite and suck around one of Harry's nipples, causing him to hiss at the ungentle ministration.

"How?" Harry breathed.

"An Order spy saw you. He was on a mission, and he saw you through a door. The Death Eater with him thought it was hilarious that they'd kept you there, so the spy knew it was really you. He told the Order, and they got you out."

"Severus got me out?"

"No. Severus was discovered just before you were captured, or you would have been rescued much sooner. It was a different spy. A new spy. It took him so long to find you because he wasn't trusted, because he had failed an important mission before."

"Oh." Draco half expected Potter to ask him what mission, but he didn't, he just closed his eyes as he rode the pleasure Draco was creating.

"Do you believe me, Harry?"

"Believe what?" Harry asked breathlessly. Draco laughed slightly at Potter's innocent confusion.

"Do you believe that you've been rescued?" When there was no reply, Draco sighed heavily, then spread Potter's legs, pushing inside him gently. He knew that the unprepared entrance would cause the other some pain, but he needed the pain to ground the spell until Potter could break through it. Potter cried out wordlessly, and Draco could not for the life of him tell if it was a cry of pain or pleasure.

"You're free, you're safe, and your friends are waiting for you. They've been worried sick about you," Draco murmured as he slid in and out of Potter's body.

"Ron, Hermione," Potter panted. Draco winced, as the two really weren't people he wanted to contemplate while he was fucking, but he nodded anyway. "George, tell them I'm fine!" Draco realized with a start that he must have been hearing the two worrying through his link to George. And he was responding to it!

"Why don't you snap the rest of the way out of this, and go tell them yourself?"

"Go tell them… I'm free?" Draco smiled with relief and pressed a kiss to Potter's throat.

"That's right."

"I'm free," he repeated wonderingly. The awe in his voice was touching, if a bit sad. Draco's hand sped up on Potter's cock, pushing him over the edge from the pleasure he had not received in over a year. His release triggered Draco's. He collapsed, panting, against Potter's chest. After a moment, he looked up at him hesitantly.

"You back with the wider world, Potter?" he asked, a trace of sarcasm in his voice. Potter nodded, watching him with eyes wide. "So now what?" Potter grinned suddenly.

"Now I need to go tell Ron and Hermione you haven't done any dastardly deeds since you kidnapped me from my recovery bed. Damn, that means I'll have to listen to them weeping and yelling instead of celebrating being home." He leaned up and kissed Draco on the cheek before slipping out of the bed, wandlessly using several cleansing spells simultaneously, startling Draco with his yelp of pleasure. "You have no idea how good it feels to be able to do that again! I swear, I was absolutely filthy. That room was beautiful, but I really hated having it draining my magic like it did."

"I can imagine," Draco said softly. "Our magic is the one thing that is always with us. To have it gone would be horrible." Harry nodded, dressing quickly, then slipped out the door with one last unreadable look.

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By the time Draco made it back downstairs, after a leisurely bath, a subtle guidance spell directed him to one of the large, mostly unused ballrooms. It was dark, lit only by strobe lights and spotlights. And it was packed. It seemed that everyone in the order was there, in the room.

'Looks like he caught everyone on their way out of the meeting telling them he was back,' he thought. 'If they even got to the meeting room, and he didn't just pull them in here to announce it in his own way.' All in all, the second idea seemed much more plausible. Harry had always had a sense of humor, and canceling the meeting for a party would appeal to him.

As his eyes adjusted, he spotted Harry dancing with the twins, but his movements seemed a bit stilted compared to before his capture. It wasn't something really noticeable, but Draco had spent a lot more time than he was willing to admit to just watching the Gryffindor, and he knew the way he moved. The way he was moving now was just wrong, and he could see that the twins felt it, though they pretended not to. His sexuality infused everything about the way he lived, and it had been badly bruised, if not broken, by his long captivity.

"It's nice to see him going back to normal so quickly," Granger's voice spoke in his ear. He turned to give her a scathing glance, though he was uncertain if she saw it in the dim light.

"You think he's back to normal? He's never going to be the same as he was before he was captured. I agree, he's decided to reassure everyone he's fine, and he's doing a good job, but it's not real." Maybe he was being harsh, stomping on her joy like that, but Harry's display just filled him with a sick feeling, and he had to release it some way, or it would overcome him. He made his way over to the small bar that had been set up, leaving her to stare after him, wondering where the cold words had come from, when he had been so anxious to have Harry rescued. He almost sounded upset that Harry was here.

Draco was sitting in a corner, sipping his vodka with a small amount of Coke, when Blaise found him.

"What are you doing over here, Draco? You're missing a great party, and I know how much you love a good party." He reached down and grabbed Draco's arm to pull him up, but Draco pushed his back into the corner and braced himself, and Blaise ended up sprawled across his knees instead. "Ow. Seriously though, what are you doing over in the corner by yourself? You're not even watching him, which for you is rare." Draco just gave him a look.

"I think I've seen rather more of him than he preferred, recently," he said, voice hard.

"You can't mean you're afraid to face him," Blaise said impatiently.

"I'm not afraid," Draco said, but it was the cold, distant voice Blaise hated, the voice Draco used when he was protecting himself, when he was hiding. His eyes were fixed wistfully on his glass, seemingly watching some wonderful scene play out in the shimmering film of the top of the alcohol. Blaise knew he didn't have any seeing gifts, but the image was so strong in his mind, it might as well have been reflected in the glass.

"Then what's wrong, brother?" Blaise said softly, moving to kneel in front of Draco and rest his hands on Draco's knees. Draco dropped his head, refusing to look at Blaise.

"I suppose Severus told you what spell they put on Potter?" he asked reluctantly. He knew talking to Blaise would help him, it always did, but never before had anything given him the sick feeling he had now, pooling in his gut. Various other unpleasant sensations, ranging from violently angry to nearly suicidal depression, but never before this degree of stomach-churning guilt. Blaise nodded, gesturing for him to go on. He knew if he interrupted now, Draco likely wouldn't continue. "You know there was only one way to snap him out of that." Blaise nodded again, and caught his hand before he made another agitated pass through his hair. "And then he just left. Without a word about it. Just gave me this fake grin and said he was off to reassure his friends. What about me? I was forced to rape him once, then practically rape him again, and he can't spare a few words for me, to tell me he understands I had to do it? Does he blame me for it? For not getting him out sooner? Because he has to know by now that it was me that got the information to the Order. Does he think I waited for my chance to get at him before I arranged for him to be rescued?" He sighed, and squeezed Blaise's hands. "I was already focused on that when I came in, and I see him, out there on the floor, trying to prove to everyone he's alright, but he's nearly falling apart. I can see it. He's afraid now. Afraid to touch, and be touched. He hides it pretty well, but it was obvious to me. And it hurt so much to see him like that, but there was nothing I could do. He wouldn't want me around anyway. I'm sure seeing me would just remind him of being a prisoner."

"So what are you going to do?" Blaise asked. Draco tilted his glass at him.

"I, am going to get roaringly drunk, then stagger off to bed."

"Draco…."

"Blaise, please, if you love me at all, swear you won't tell anyone what I said." When Draco said that, and looked up into his eyes like that, Blaise was helpless to resist.

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"What's up with Malfoy?" Harry asked Ron when he finally went in search of a drink, gesturing to the blond sitting crouched in the corner, clutching his drink like it was a lifeline. Ron shrugged.

"I don't know, really. He's under a lot of stress, spying for the Order, of course." Harry looked at him sharply.

"He's the spy?" he asked, shocked. Ron nodded.

"Didn't he tell you?"

"So he's the one who got me out of there?"

"Sure is, mate. About two and a half weeks ago, came running in here in a panic, shouting that you weren't dead. If it hadn't been so serious, it would have been dead funny. He's so calm and collected, but he totally lost control in his haste to let us know you were still with us."

"It was that important to him?" Harry murmured.

"Of course it was. He said once that he joined the Order because of you, but we never could get him to explain why. You remember how he was before you were got?" Harry nodded slowly. "After, he was really withdrawn. He'd give his reports on what _he_'s doing, then he'd find any excuse to leave. I don't think he actually talked to anyone besides Zabini and Snape."

"I expected him to come talk to me by now," Harry mused, turning to scoop ice into a glass before pouring vodka and grenadine over it. "But he's just sitting in the corner getting drunk."

"You're sure he's getting drunk? How? He hasn't moved from his corner in almost half an hour." Harry grinned.

"He appears to have perfected the Servitor's Summons, and on a mixed drink, no less. He just taps his glass with his wand and he gets a refill." Harry demonstrated on the shot of whiskey Ron had just picked up, tapping it with his wand and muttering something. Ron drained it at his gesture, and Harry tapped it again with his wand, and the bottle of whiskey rose, pouring into the empty air, and the shot glass refilled.

"Wicked," Ron said, tossing the second shot back. Harry wandered off, absently sipping on his drink. He thought about going and talking to Malfoy, but when he glanced back over, Zabini was on his knees in front of him, speaking earnestly, and he decided not to interrupt what was obviously an intimate moment between the two. As he watched, Zabini took Malfoy's thin face in his hands, and gently kissed each cheek. Malfoy gave him a thin, sad smile, and Harry looked away.

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Malfoy appeared in the doorway, causing Ron to fall silent, not with distrust, but in expectation. "I've been called. I can't find Sev. Tell him please?" Ron nodded silently, raising one hand in salute, and Harry found himself following his lead without thought. "Blaise'll be here by the time I get back." Malfoy smiled slightly at Harry, momentarily letting his mask relax, and then he was gone.

When Harry looked over, Ron was smiling bemusedly. "I suppose he is glad you're back, even if he doesn't really show it, according to Mi anyway. I haven't talked to him about you." Harry frowned slightly.

"What did Mi say about him?"

"That he was being snide when she said something about how fast you'd recovered when you were dancing last night. Pretty much said you were faking it or something, because you couldn't be that recovered or something like that." Ron shrugged. "She was a bit upset when she was telling me." Harry remained silent, wondering how Malfoy had seen through him when even Ron and Hermione had been fooled. He had a feeling the twins had known something was up, but they had politely hid it. He excused himself and went to find the twins.

"Course, we always have time for you Harry!" Fred said excitedly. "OI! George! Harry's here!" George came running from another room. He threw his arms around Harry, but released him almost immediately when he flinched back. The twins exchanged a glance, but didn't say anything.

"What?" Harry asked sharply, annoyed.

"Nothing Harry," George said, so solemnly that Harry knew he wouldn't get another answer. He sighed.

"Fine. Then tell me what you know and think."

"About what?" Fred asked cattily.

"You _know _what. Don't play." Fred sighed. "What you know and think is going on with me." Fred looked at him steadily. "Dammit, if you know me at all, you should know I won't get upset by your honest opinion. I just want to figure out how you're seeing things nobody else is. You and Malfoy, apparently." Fred rested a tentative hand on his shoulder, brightening slightly when it wasn't shrugged off. A swift gesture activated the silencing wards the twins had layered onto the room.

"Harry, I think the only reason we're seeing anything is because we got a little bit of information the rest of them didn't. So far as I know, only us, Malfoy, and Zabini know." Harry tilted his head to the side.

"And it's something to do with getting me out, isn't it?"

"You heard it just as well as I did, Harry. Remember?" Harry bowed his head in thought, looking for conversations he'd heard that had involved only Zabini and Malfoy with the twins. A wisp of memory caught his attention, but it wasn't very clear; he had been… occupied at the time.

"_I hated it! __I hated that I had to do that, but father was watching me, just waiting for a hesitation he could push."_ He closed his eyes at the knowledge that Malfoy had been forced to be intimate with him, when it effected him strongly enough to have him yelling like that. When he opened his eyes again, a bit of the deadness that had been there had returned. The twins exchanged looks; obviously he had remembered the wrong part of that conversation.

"Malfoy told us what they were doing to you, why you were still alive. He didn't want anyone else to know, because it would upset them too much, little brother."

"He didn't even want to tell us," George added quickly, before Harry could say anything. "But his need to rant broke through his need to keep it from us. He was so angry about what they did to you." Fred nodded.

"Yelled for almost five minutes, he did, and burst into tears, too." Harry nodded slowly.

"So you're the only ones who know I was raped?" he asked in a needy voice. Both nodded.

"The two of us, Zabini, and Malfoy, obviously."

"Harry. I have a question. Malfoy told us that he'd raped you, to keep attention off of him." Harry's eyebrows folded together as he thought.

"I- I remember seeing him, and remembering that he was in the Order. I wanted so badly to ask him to tell them where I was, to get me out of there, but by then, I wasn't in control of my voice. The only thing I remember saying was pleading and I didn't with him. I was silent. He didn't say a word, but his eyes looked sad." He looked up at the twins again. "I don't count that as rape. He was gentle with me, and I knew that if he was really a D. E. he'd have hurt me. And if he wasn't really one, he'd have to keep attention off of him. I think subconsciously I knew he really was spying for us from the moment he looked at me there, because there was no other reason he'd be sad for me."

"Have you talked to him about it?" George said gently. "I think you may find he has a vastly different take on it than you do. You see it as him working to protect himself and you, right?" Harry nodded.

"And he was gentle. It was something to focus on until I was rescued. That not everybody there hurt me." He turned his head away. "I doubt he wants to see me anyway." He stood suddenly. "Thanks guys. I know you're busy." And he slipped out the door before they could say anything.

"I think they're having a communication malfunction, brother."

"I do believe you're right. The question is what to do about it?"

"What can we do about it? Unless we can get them to talk, they won't ever realize what the other is thinking." Fred sighed.

"And until they do, they're both going to continue to torture themselves for nothing." George shrugged, flipping a coin off his wrist. He frowned.

"And the coins are taking a bit to long to reappear once called. We should focus on what we can fix, and let everything else stew until we can think of a solution. We have to straighten out the process before we can move up to weapons or anything else useful."

"Right you are brother. Right you are. We can at least do our best to make sure our little brother's never that helpless again."

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Blaise sat under the tattered curtains that blocked the portrait of Mrs. Black from the rest of the world -who really didn't want to hear her opinions- waiting for his brother to stumble in. And stumble he did, falling into Blaise's waiting arms.

"Good to see you, brother," he mumbled before he collapsed unconscious against his body. Sighing slightly at this evidence that Draco had indeed been punished for Harry's escape yet again, as one of the last people to discover him. But he was still alive, which meant that the Dark Lord didn't suspect him to be a spy, which was very good news to him, both personally, and as a member of the Order.

He lifted one of Draco's arms over his shoulder, and carried his brother up to the room they had reserved for him. Once there, he stripped him down, wincing to see the blood that his clothing had hidden. It had apparently dried on him before he had redressed- or been redressed- since his clothes weren't stained, and his wounds had been closed before he was allowed to leave. That was the standard Death Eater triage; just seal the wounds and let them take care of the rest themselves, unless it was someone important. And by definition, anyone being punished was not important.

Closing his eyes and resting his hands on his brother's bare chest, he could feel the subtle net of spells on him, and swore. They had ensured that he couldn't be healed by magic. Any magic that touched him would cause unbearable pain, and he knew no way to break the net. Sighing, he conjured a bowl of warm water and a rag. Draco would be mighty unhappy if he woke covered in blood, inability to touch magic or not, and he didn't feel like listening to his brother's complaining. Slowly, the caked blood came free, and he winced every time he scrubbed against the tender skin that was coloring rapidly.

"How is he?" a voice spoke from the door, and Blaise jumped, then turned to grin sheepishly at Ron.

"Not so good. And they put the spell net on him. I can't heal him. We just have to hope for the best." Ron nodded.

"Have you seen Harry this evening?"

"Yeah, but not since I got here. He was sitting on the steps, but he left when I got there." Ron nodded.

"He has seemed fairly concerned about him. If you're talking to Harry, Malfoy is one subject that's bound to come up."

"What does he say?" Ron frowned.

"Not much, actually. Asks a lot of questions about him. Some about you, too. Like he's trying to figure something out but he doesn't want to tell anybody else what it is." He laughed shortly. "Spent about half an hour closeted with the twins though. I think they know a lot more of what's going on than the rest of us." Blaise nodded. As the only people Draco had told about raping Harry, they were the obvious choice for confidants, because he wouldn't have to tell them that and see how it effected how they treated him.

"Wouldn't surprise me if he did confide in them. Draco told them more than he told most, though they kinda pushed him into it."

"They do that, when it's something they need to know. I've never figured out how they can tell if they need to know it or not, but they do." He nodded shortly. "I'll leave you to do what you can. Heaven knows I'll only be in the way." Blaise nodded back as he slipped out the door. He looked back down into Draco's open eyes.

"What you figure he wants to know?" he asked sleepily. Blaise shrugged.

"Why you never told anyone else, probably."

"Because they didn't need to know, and if it was me, I wouldn't want everyone to know that kind of thing."

"He was waiting for you, you know. When I got here, he was sitting on the steps, same place I was when you got here. As soon as he saw me, he got up, nodded at me, and left." Draco shrugged, then winced.

"Probably feels responsible for me, since it's pretty much because of him, and his escape, that I was punished," he muttered. Blaise didn't look convinced, but didn't say anything. He was too busy trying to find potions to heal the internal damage Draco had suffered that wouldn't interfere with the spell net on him. There weren't many that would be able to pass unnoticed; any that had spells cast on it at any stage, be it any time from preparation to bottling it up, would have a residue of magic that the net would catch, and it would be very painful to Draco.

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"Is he back?" Harry asked as Ron passed by his door. Ron paused in the doorway.

"Yeah. He's in a bad way. They put a spellnet on him, and it'll catch any magic we try to use to heal him, so we're pretty much trying to heal him the muggle way, without any training."

"Does his inherent magic set it off?" Ron shook his head.

"If it did, he'd be dead by now." Harry nodded.

"Then I can help." He was out of the room and down the hall before Ron could say anything else. Shaking his head bemusedly, he set off behind Harry, walking slowly back to Draco's room, wondering how Harry knew which room it was. When he got there, Harry was kneeling on the bed beside Draco, talking earnestly to Blaise who was listening with a doubtful expression on his face. Finally, he nodded, and Harry smiled at him before turning to Draco, who was unconscious again. Slowly, moving almost reverently, he moved to cup the blonde's cheeks, leaning down to kiss him tenderly. There was no outward sign of anything going on, then suddenly the bruising all across Draco's body, caused by injuries that had been sealed at the skin level only bleeding internally, started rapidly fading.

Draco's eyes snapped open, and he stared in shock at Harry being close enough to kiss him, but didn't move. Moments later, Harry pulled back slowly. "How do you feel?" he asked softly, blushing slightly at being caught kissing him. Draco blinked in surprise.

"Much better, actually. What did you do?" Blaise was amused that Draco had automatically assumed Harry had done something, when both he and Ron were easily within view as well. "How did you heal me through the spell net?"

"I pushed my magic in underneath the net, by kissing you. Once the magic's in your body, the net doesn't register it. It's just getting it there that was the problem." Draco nodded his understanding. "It started out as a game, actually, but it's been pretty useful." He pressed his lips briefly to Draco's again, gasping when Draco instantly started kissing him back. He smiled as he pulled away, and caressed the side of Draco's face with a gentle hand. "Rest Draco. My magic only directed the healing, it was yours that did most of the actual work." He slid off the bed, tucking the blankets gently around the blond.

"You'll come back?" Draco questioned, too sleepy to guard his tongue. Harry hesitated, but agreed.

"I'll come and see you tomorrow," he whispered, and pressed a kiss to his temple before leaving the room. Blaise smiled wryly at Ron.

"Well, that could have gone a lot worse," he said ironically. Ron looked at him questioningly. "Now, we just need to get them to talk when Harry comes back tomorrow. Though, that will probably be as difficult a task as getting them into the same room together in the first place. They're so frightened the other will hate them, they can barely even look at each other."

"Yet when Draco needed help, Harry came running."

"Yes." They sat in silence for a long time. Finally, Ron stood.

"Well, it's an early morning tomorrow. I've got to go." Blaise nodded and walked to the door with him, before lying down on top of the blankets beside his brother, summoning one of the extras from a chest at the foot of the bed to cover up with.

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"He lied to me Blaise," Draco said petulantly. "He said he would come and see me, but he hasn't." Blaise sighed.

"Yes he did. You were asleep, and he forbade me to wake you. He sat with you for almost an hour, until you started waking." He snorted softly. "He looked like he didn't want to leave, but was afraid to stay."

"Afraid I was gonna pounce on him and try to rape him again, prolly," Draco said darkly. Blaise growled in annoyance.

"Not that kind of afraid. Like, afraid of what you were going to say. I know the twins have already said this, but you didn't listen. I don't think Harry blames you anywhere near as much as you blame yourself. Yes, he's stiffer with everyone touching him now, but you know it's only the twins and us that even notice. And he watches you, like you used to watch him. You haven't noticed because you've been punishing yourself by refusing to even look at him. I'm not dumb," he added at Draco's startled look. "I know that's what you've been doing. He wants you to come talk to him. He can't understand why you stay away, except to think that you didn't want to touch him -which is supported by the fact that you would never approach him before, might I add- and now you're uncomfortable around him." Draco's eyes were wide. It had never occurred to him that there could be any other reason for Harry's reticence than that he felt like Draco raped him, and didn't want to be around him any more. There had never been any particular awkwardness between the two of them before, though they hadn't really interacted much. Looking back, Draco wondered if Harry had always just been waiting for him to approach him, instead of being suspicious of him like he'd assumed.

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With that in mind, the next day he sought Harry out. Harry was in the library lying curled against one arm of a couch, while Fred sat next to him, one hand lying casually on his leg. "He has trouble sleeping alone," George commented from an armchair, though he didn't raise his head from the book he was reading. "And he doesn't want people in his bed unless there's fucking going on. Never has particularly cared for it."

"Guys, does- does Harry say anything about me to you?"

"Why do you ask?" Fred asked suspiciously, though he was actually fairly amused at the blonde's hesitancy.

"Because everybody knows you're the ones he talks to when he needs to talk," Draco replied frankly. "And I need to know."

"Why don't you ask him?" Draco looked down, his need for information and trust for the twins fighting with his nearly instinctive need to keep all personal information to himself so nobody could use it against him. "Draco?"

"I'm afraid of what he might say. If he says bad things, it would be better to hear it from you than from him." Fred sighed.

"You two are so damn insecure about each other, its not even funny," he grumbled. "You really want to know what he thinks about you?" He barely gave Draco time to nod before continuing. "He thinks you saved his life. He thinks you were forced to be intimate with him against your wishes, because your father was there, which means he feels that he raped you just as much as you feel you raped him." Draco stared at him, wide eyed. How could Harry think that? Harry had had no choice in what had gone on, but if Draco had kept his head instead of panicking, he probably could have told his father that he just didn't find Potter attractive and gotten out of having to rape him like that.

But then he wouldn't have been able to snap him out of his ensorcelled fog, either. Breaking the spell depended on having someone there that had been a part of the situation before rescue, or you couldn't snap it. That's why it had to be Draco to do it, when practically anyone there would have been willing. Because even though most of his mind hadn't registered the change because of the spell, there was enough awareness of his change in condition that only someone who was already associated with the imprisonment would be able to free him. Draco leaned forward from his seat across from Fred buried his face in his hands with a groan. George absently reached over and patted the back of his neck before turning the page, not that Draco really believed he was reading, but at least he was better at acting like it than most people were. It always amused him when people listening to a conversation and pretending to read forgot to turn the pages, or turned them so erratically there was no way they were really reading.

But the twins always excelled at whatever they actually decided to do. They would have been great spies, if it were at all believable that they would turn against their family, which it wasn't. Fred stood, pausing to rest a hand on Draco's head for a moment as though in blessing, then strode off, apparently to find something else to read. Without him, Harry stirred uncomfortably. As his subconscious noticed there was nobody there to protect him any more, he became more and more uneasy, which caused his dreams to become troubled, so Draco was not surprised when he woke with a start.

Harry blinked at him sleepily, looking comical the way he had slid half off the couch, with his head and one arm dangling, when he'd woken so abruptly. Draco would have laughed, if he weren't so tense all of a sudden. It was a tenseness Harry seemed to share, as soon as he realized just who he was looking at.

"Draco, hi," he said uneasily.

"Why are you avoiding me, Harry?" Draco asked bluntly. Harry winced.

"Why do you think I'm avoiding you? I've been busy, and so have you…."

"How about the fact that you promised to come and see me yesterday, and then left before I woke up, so you could say you'd seen me without having to talk to me?" Harry winced again, dropping his eyes to the table between them."

"You don't want me around," he muttered. Draco wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear it or not.

"How do you know?" he asked belligerently. "Did you ask me?"

"You said- you said you didn't like it. You were yelling at the twins about it," Harry whimpered, apparently reacting to his harsh tone. Draco frowned; wondering what he was talking about, then it hit him.

"So I'm supposed to enjoy raping you?" he asked sarcastically, not noticing the gasp from the shelves behind him. Now Harry looked confused.

"You were gentle. It gave me something to hold on to, between then and when I was saved. It's the only reason the spell didn't completely take over my mind." Harry stood and made his way slowly around the table, to perch on the edge just in front of Draco. He yawned widely and Draco smiled, holding out his arms.

"Come here, Harry," he whispered, and Harry folded into his arms as though he had only been waiting for permission to sink into the safety they represented. Draco gently petted his hair, soothing him as he fell back asleep. Leaning back into the corner and resting his head on Harry's, Draco fell asleep as well.

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Instead of leaving the room with all the other Order members, Harry moved to perch beside Ginny on the old overstuffed couch she was reclining on. She smiled at him, but it was wane, and tinged with pain.

"Heya Harry!" she said softly. He took her hand.

"What's wrong, Gin-bug?" She beamed at him.

"I'm gonna have a baby!" she said excitedly. Harry's eyes widened, and his hand moved to rest against her stomach, which he now noticed was gently convex.

"A baby?" he repeated blankly, then broke out in a broad grin. "Congratulations! Who's the father?" She blushed lightly.

"Neville." Harry looked up to see Neville moving across the room towards them. He stood and punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, old chap!" Neville blushed brighter than Ginny had, but looked incredibly happy. Harry turned back to Ginny. "Now, why are you looking all worn out, though, Gin? Aren't there potions to help you through the pregnancy?"

"They make her feel worse instead of better," Neville said softly. "Can you help her, Harry?"

"Possibly," Harry said slyly. "But what do I get out of it?" He grinned at them, teasing lightly. They all knew that he would be more than happy to assist Ginny in any way possible. He always did something like this when he wanted to ask for something, but didn't know how the request would be accepted.

"The satisfaction of knowing you did something nobody else could?" Ginny hazarded. His grin widened.

"I do that all the time anyway." Neville rolled his eyes.

"What do you want, then?" Harry's eyes dropped again to Ginny's stomach, and his fingers caressed it tenderly, a look of suppressed longing on his face. Ginny smiled at him.

"You want to be godfather?" she asked gently. He nodded, blushing. She laughed lightly. "We'll certainly consider it. Just you make sure you're still alive by the time I go into labor." He smiled back at her, and then Neville dropped a heavy hand to his shoulder, a pleased smile dancing in his eyes, he knew that it was more than likely he would be named the child's godfather –if he could indeed keep himself alive long enough to claim the title.

"I'll be there right beside you, whether you do or not," Harry said softly. He rose up on his knees, and pressed his lips against hers, sending his magic through her body and correcting the imbalances that were causing her problems. He frowned when he pulled away. "Stop taking the potions. There's something in them you're allergic to. If you keep taking them, you could hurt the baby." Her eyes widened, and she nodded hastily. "Try not to use magic as much as possible. If your magic gets too low, mine will have nothing to guide and dissipate, and you'll feel bad again until I reset it." She nodded again. He leaned up again and kissed her on the forehead. "Neville, take care of her." He embraced the other man and slipped out of the room. None of them noticed the blond shadow watching them, a single tear sliding down his pale cheek.

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Draco turned and moved towards the door opposite the one Harry had taken. He didn't think he could bear to see the other boy right now. Not after seeing that.

He had known this would happen if he allowed himself to get close to the Gryffindor, but he couldn't help himself. The call Harry exerted upon him had become too strong for him to resist, after seeing how close he had come to being broken, yet he refused to allow it to effect his behavior. Draco had drowned in that determination, and had not been able to stay away any more, especially when the people he actually trusted told him that Harry was torturing himself thinking he had done something to push Draco away. But his fears had been realized in that small sunlit room.

To see Harry touching _her,_ kissing _her, _naturally, when he could barely endure to be touched by any other, had hurt him. Worse that it seemed to be accepted, even expected by Longbottom, who rumor had it was engaged to her. He had always known that Harry simply couldn't settle with one person for more than a couple of hours, but he had hoped, deep in the back of his mind, that maybe he would be catch and hold Harry's attention longer, if he ever made the effort to get it. But like all of his secretly cherished hopes that he had ever acted on, this one had slipped through his fingers.

He slowly climbed to the top of the house, bypassing the room where the hippogriff had been put with a slight shudder. Yes, he had provoked the creature, he could admit that now, and that the action was stupid, but he had underestimated just how much damage it would be able to do before they were separated, and how much it would hurt. Taking the last small staircase two at a time, he pressed his hand to the wall at the top. He had overheard several people wonder why the blank staircase was there, but he had never told anyone.

It was the beginning of the Family Black escape route. If something had happened, and they had been forced to flee, the wards and construction of this room would keep pursuers from catching them. You had to have Black Family blood in your veins to be admitted, which meant he was the only one with access.

If he'd been paying attention, he would have noticed Lupin's amused look during the aforementioned conversations, but he had been so sure that he was the only one with access that he had dismissed it. He had never particularly cared for listening to their overly cheerful discussions anyway. The only time he was usually around most of them was at and after the Order meetings, and since those almost always took place immediately after the dark lord had called him, he wasn't in any mood to be social.

Arms wrapped around his waist, and he stiffened. Gentle lips brushed a kiss across the side of his neck, then moved up to whisper in his ear.

"I didn't know you knew how to get up here," Harry said softly. "I thought you'd be in your room." Draco pulled away slightly.

"Let go of me, Potter," he said coldly, and Harry released him, eyes shining with hurt. Looking at him, Draco tried not to feel guilty. When Draco didn't say anything else, Harry wilted, dropping to curl against the base of the wall. "Why do you toy with me so, Harry?" Draco asked softly, then turned and left before Harry could do anything more than look up at him in puzzlement. He didn't notice the look of anguish that passed over Harry's face when he realized Draco was walking out on him.

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"Has anyone seen Harry?" Ron asked the next morning. Draco looked up, startled, as Remus silently slipped out of the room. Ginny volunteered that she had last seen Harry the evening before, when she told him about the baby. Draco blinked at the news that she was pregnant, though nobody else seemed surprised. Then again, most of the rest were either close friends or family, and Blaise was always up on the gossip, which would mean he'd probably found out about Ginny's baby soon after she had. Neville nodded in agreement that that was the last time he'd seen Harry as well. Going around the table, everyone else denied seeing him since before the affianced couple. Just before they got to him, Remus stormed back into the room, grabbed him by the shoulder, and slammed against the wall.

"How could you do that? How could you hurt him like that?" When Draco just looked at him blankly, he sighed. "You still haven't realized how dependent he is on you, have you? He hasn't moved a muscle since you walked out on him. He's fragile right now, and he's fixated on you as a protector. You're the only person he's comfortable with. How could you abandon him like that?" Draco pushed his hand off of his shoulder, making it fall heavily to Remus' side.

"He's not comfortable with me. He avoids me. He's more comfortable around the littlest Weasley and her boy than he is me," he said bitterly, all too aware of their audience.

"He's afraid, because every time he's seen you, you withdraw, and now you've abandoned him. You can't logic away an emotional reaction, especially when you don't understand the action that caused it." He yanked Draco off the wall and towards the door. "You are going to go talk to him. Now. Explain what you're feeling to him. I don't care how much it embarrasses you; he needs to know why you've been acting this way. Nothing I can say will reassure him." The werewolf practically carried Draco up to the Black retreat by the front of his shirt.

Harry was on the ground, arms wrapped around his knees and his face buried, but Draco could see how his body shook with his silent sobs. He crossed almost silently to drop to his knees beside the other boy, noticing anew his the slightness of his form. Draco frowned in concern; Harry didn't look like he'd put on any weight after his ordeal. He was still the same whipcord and bone that his long period of starvation had left him. Smoothly, he gathered Harry up into his arms, before he even knew the blond was there. When he realized who was holding him, he struggled wildly, but Draco only drew him up against his shoulder, holding him firmly until he collapsed against his chest. Humming softly, Draco stroked his back and gently tangled his fingers through Harry's hair, pulling him up against his body securely.

"Why? Why'd you leave me? Why'd you come back?" Harry whispered, and Draco sighed. He really didn't want to be up here explaining this to Harry. No matter what the werewolf had said, there was no way Harry really cared about him, depended on him. Harry was just upset because he'd walked out on him. As though sensing Draco's reluctance, Harry started babbling.

"You don't- I didn't- I don't-" he looked panicked, and close to tears again. Draco hugged him close, shushing him gently.

"Tell you what, you answer a question, and I'll answer one. Deal?" Harry nodded. "Why have you been avoiding me?" Harry looked down, absently drawing on the dust on the floor.

"Because I was afraid. I don't remember much of your conversation with the twins, because I was –busy- but I remember you saying you didn't want to. So I decided I'd give you space, and if you wanted to be around me, you could. But you never did try to talk to me, so I assumed you didn't want me around. Why did you leave me up here?"

"Because I was angry with you. Why did it upset you so much when I left?"

"Because you shoved me away and abandoned me. Why were you angry?" Draco closed his eyes. He really didn't want to answer that question, but he owed Harry an answer.

"Because I saw you kissing the littlest Weasley," he finally whispered. "And you were comfortable with her, when you're not with anyone else I've seen you with. You touched her without being afraid, and I was angry because I wanted to be the one you trusted like that." He pulled away, sure Harry would revile him for what he had admitted, refusing to ask another question and give Harry a chance to humiliate him further. Instead of condemnation, however, a gentle hand moved to cup his cheek, lifting his eyes to meet Harry's glistening ones.

"She was pregnant, and in pain. It wasn't sex. She's like my sister; I was using my magic to help her feel better, like I did when you were under the spell-net." His mind flashed back to when he had awoken from his torture-induced unconsciousness to feel Harry's lips on his, and he flushed. "Her and Neville are getting married, you know."

"I did know that, but I didn't know she was pregnant until this morning, when everybody was looking for you."

"So you thought I was just kissing her and got jealous?" Blushing slightly, Draco nodded. Harry slid into his arms, pressing his back against the blonde's chest, and resting his head against his shoulder. "Why would I want her? She's like my sister, and she's engaged. I never did mess with the taken ones." He twisted slightly to press a kiss into Draco's neck. "And I've always wanted you, I just never dared to approach you." He was silent for a long moment. "I thought, if you were amiable, you would have approached me. You never seemed uncertain about anything."

"I was afraid you would reject me." Harry sat up on his knees, face inches from Draco's.

"Never." Draco crossed the distance between them, kissing Harry gently. Harry gasped at the emotion in the kiss, emotion that Draco wouldn't allow himself to express any other way.

"But you've been such a- so… available. Will you be able to limit yourself to just one person?" Draco asked in a concerned voice, hastily changing his words, remembering how the other Death Eaters had been talking about Harry before his father had thrown them out that time. He wasn't going to say anything that would bring that to mind, even if before Harry would have cheerfully agreed to being a slut.

"I don't know. But I want to try. I want to be yours." Draco said nothing, just held him close. There would be a time for doubts and uncertainties, but for now, he was content just to have Harry in his arms.


End file.
